Sampling: IN THE NEWS …..

                                  

Governor McGreevey reveals income tax and property rebate program in 4-29-04 statehouse joint session: rather than addressing real cost drivers of school property taxes - such as health benefits, utility costs, mandated special education programs – over which Trenton (not schools) has control, Gov. recommends capping school expenditures and school surplus accounts.

“The focus on school spending "is misleading and threatens to erode the exceptional quality of education that New Jersey's public schools provide," Edithe Fulton, president of the New Jersey Education Association, the teachers' union, said in a statement.

The proposed 2.5 percent cap on spending increases is unrealistic in light of rising school salaries, benefits, insurance costs, and special-education expenses, critics said.

Health benefit costs alone rose by an average of about 18 percent this year, said Lynne Strickland, executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, which represents about 120 suburban districts.

The governor's proposals are "more of a short-term political response than a long-term policy response" to rising property taxes, Strickland said.” [Bergen Record, see below]

The Star Ledger

 

The governor gambles on a tax hike for some

After McGreevey tells lawmakers of his plan for easing property taxes, GOP calls it a 'Robin Hood scheme'

Friday, April 30, 2004

BY DAVID KINNEY

Star-Ledger Staff

“Walt Mahler, superintendent of the Bridgewater-Raritan School District, said the stricter caps will straitjacket schools, which have no control over major costs.

"We're already looking at 3 percent caps when we've got 15 percent increases in health insurance, 4.6 percent increases in salary agreements and utility costs that are going through the roof," he said.”

http://www.nj.com/statehouse/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1083307030291990.xml

 

A defining issue for Candidate McGreevey

Democrats hope leader's proposal plays better than Jim Florio's did

Friday, April 30, 2004

BY JEFF WHELAN AND JOSH MARGOLIN

Star-Ledger Staff

 

“Ernest Reock, the retired director of the Center for Government Services at Rutgers University and one of the state's leading experts on property taxes, said the Democrats will face political challenges because the rebate approach "makes it difficult" for McGreevey "to get full credit for tax relief. An awful lot of people don't relate the rebate to their property taxes. Some people will put 2 and 2 together, and other people won't."

 

http://www.nj.com/statehouse/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1083307048291990.xml

 

School officials blame state for fiscal problems

 

Friday, April 30, 2004 By MAIA DAVIS STAFF WRITER

The focus on school spending "is misleading and threatens to erode the exceptional quality of education that New Jersey's public schools provide," Edithe Fulton, president of the New Jersey Education Association, the teachers' union, said in a statement.

The proposed 2.5 percent cap on spending increases is unrealistic in light of rising school salaries, benefits, insurance costs, and special-education expenses, critics said.

Health benefit costs alone rose by an average of about 18 percent this year, said Lynne Strickland, executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, which represents about 120 suburban districts.

The governor's proposals are "more of a short-term political response than a long-term policy response" to rising property taxes, Strickland said.

And the school boards association agreed, terming McGreevey's plan "sound bites, not sound policy."

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2MDkmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY1MjEzODgmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXky

 

The Trenton Times

McGreevey plans to triple tax rebates

Thursday, April 29, 2004

By MICHAEL JENNINGS

Staff Writer

"It won't do anything to solve the endemic problem of property taxes," said Lynne Strickland, executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, a group of suburban districts. "Local districts need more flexibility. One size does not fit all."

Districts slam governor's budget cap plan

Friday, April 30, 2004

By MARK PERKISS

Staff Writer

Assemblyman Louis Greenwald, D-Cherry Hill, chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee said Chiacchio and Lorenzetti are pressing panic alarms.

"We won't have to lay off teachers," he said. "The most important statistic that has come out in the last month is: New Jersey, which spends more per capita on education than any other state in the nation, is 39th in what gets into the classroom with our children.

"Those (classroom) costs include salaries and health care benefits for teachers," he said. "If you squeeze the top at the administrative levels you force more money to be spent in the classrooms."

The Bergen Record

Spreading the wealth

 

Friday, April 30, 2004 By JOSH GOHLKE TRENTON BUREAU

Still, one Democratic senator, Fred Madden of Gloucester County, was already opposing any income tax increase, threatening the party's narrow advantage in the upper house. And the proposed constitutional convention faces even more substantial opposition - not only from the Republican lawmakers who refused to join in the applause for the governor's speech Thursday, but from prominent Democrats such as state Senate President Richard J. Codey, D-Essex.

"It would be a complete delegation of our powers," said Sen. Nia Gill of Montclair, another Democrat who declined to cheer for the convention. "It's a little difficult to clap at your own demise."

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2MDcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY1MjEzOTEmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXky